Incredible to think 20 years have passed since that horrific incident, I can remember it happening so clearly even though I was only a child at the time.

Like you say, a number of significant safety regulations were implemented, particularly on UK airlines as a direct result of this tragedy, let's hope that the lives which have been saved because of these actions offered some kind of comfort to those who lost loved ones that day.

I remember it well too, even though I was fairly young. I think the image of a burnt out plane is a graphic one for any individual and will stick in the mind easily. I think the fact it happened so close to home in the peak of summer when lots of people just like them were off on their holidays. I remember also watching the documentary a few years ago about the survivors, one lady going on holiday with a girlfriend (I think she was the furthestmost survivor from the rear). She was terrified to fly after, but I read an article not long ago about her taking her first flight since the disaster with her Daughter. they flew on Excel Airways (B738) to Malaga. Excel were by all accounts very good and let her have a good look about the plane before she commited herself to flight.

Lets not forget the unlucky 53 passengers and 2 cabin crew who were lost that day.

I recall that evacuation in that tightly configured 737-200 wasnt easy and that accident resulted in similarly high density configured 732s having to either remove a seat at the exit row or increase pitch along the exit row to facilitate emergency evacuation.

Quoting Orion737 (Reply 6):I recall that evacuation in that tightly configured 737-200 wasnt easy and that accident resulted in similarly high density configured 732s having to either remove a seat at the exit row or increase pitch along the exit row to facilitate emergency evacuation.

I cannot recall this but I do recall that the installation of emergency lighting along the floor to guide passengers to the exits was one of the recommendations of the report of the accident.

I remember this accident very well. I arrived at work that day, completely unaware that there had been any crash, and a colleague told me as soon as he came through the door that a plane had caught fire at Manchester, killing all on board. I immediately tuned into the news (internet was not common in those days) to find out more information and I remember clearly the headlines of the midday papers showing a picture of the burning 737 and the headline "54 survive inferno on holiday jet".

MOL on SRB's latest attack at BA: "It's like a little Chihuahua barking at a dying Labrador. Nobody cares."

This crash was the reason NG 737s have their overwing exits on a hinge by the way. 737s don't have a bulkhead in front of the left hand side of row 1 anymore, and a wider gap for the overwing exits, thanks to this crash.

What was amazing (to me) is how a modern (at the time) aircraft at a busy airport with significant fire-fighting capability involved in a moderate pooled-fuel fire with half of the doors working and light wind resulted in 50+ deaths.

Before the reccomendations regarding access to exits were implemented, evacuating a 130 seat 737-200 wasnt an easy task, particularly if one or more of the exits were unavailable for a time, as in the manchester accident.

Many UK charter airlines chose to remove the window seat at the emergency exit row to improve access in the wake of the accident. that was a positive to come out of that horrific accident.

Quoting 777236ER (Reply 9):This crash was the reason NG 737s have their overwing exits on a hinge by the way

Do they also have the missing window seats at the exits too? I noticed those missing when travelling with a 6' 6" friend on a couple of U2 flights shortly after they began to receive the 73Gs, however recently there seemed to be window seats all along. How come this was the case? Or was I mistaken?

Quoting ZSOFN (Reply 13):Do they also have the missing window seats at the exits too?

I certainly think BA made their 737s 2x2 directly adjacent the overwing exits, but easyJet and Ryanair (and I presume all the low-cost airlines) tend to stick with the 3x3. I think the biggest bit of layout legislation to come from this crash was an increase in the pitch of the overwing row. G-BGJL only had 32'' pitch at the exit row.

Firstly - At the time of the crash, I was living and working in Ottawa, Canada and had just boarded an Eastern Provincial Airways (now, there is a blast from the passed) Boeing 737-200 (same aircraft type as this) and after settling into my economy seat, was handed the morning paper (yes, those were the days) and saw on the bottom of the front page, a picture and the article of this crash...

Bad enough, I was about the fly on the same aircraft type, but when I read on further, I realised it had happened at my "home airport" as I am from Manchester in England originally and as you can imagine, this really hit me sideways and I have to say, despite all the flying I had done, I felt for the first time, somewhat apprehensive. Anyhow, the flight was just fine and my time (my first visit) in Halifax was far better than I anticipated...

Secondly - Several years later, when I was living and working back in the UK again, I was asked by the travel company I was working with at the time to arrange a multitude of "first time flyer" flights from various parts of the country, one of which though, was to go from Manchester.

As it transpired, one of the passengers, who was wanting to take this flight (and thankfully I was informed prior to the day of the actual flight) was one of the passengers who luckily escaped (although not totally unharmed) from this aircraft and this was to be the first time that he had try to take a flight since then, feeling that this was the best way to try and deal with it.

Arrangements were made for a doctor from the medical facility at Manchester Airport and a pilot from the airline operating the flights (and am sorry, for the life of me I cannot remember which airline this was) to accompany him on the flight and talk him though the whole process and procedure and he did it, albeit sweating profusely for the first 15 minutes and since then (as far as I am aware) he was able to fly again...

So, as you can imagine, this crash certainly did make an impression on me, in more ways than one...

At work at BA at LHR, in those days, pre e-mail, pre internet, VDU's in BA (in our case purely internal to check the spares stock system), had the facility to send a message to another one if you had the receiving VDU's number.
Mostly used by enthusiasts reporting a rare type at LHR, send the occasional jokey insult to someone you knew!

But on that day these one of two line messages at the bottom of the screen started appearing, about a 737 a MAN, followed by how it was on fire, then finally a rising death tool.

I flew on that very aircraft just a couple of weeks before the accident. The Aviation Society in Manchester chartered it for a day trip to Fairford (I think it was Fairford). After arrival the aircraft did a display for the crowd then took us back home to MAN later in the evening.

Quoting 777236ER (Reply 19):Quoting Trident2e (Reply 17):
I was in seat 1A on an AF 737 recently, and the bulkhead was still there.

The CAA certainly don't allow it for British-registered aircraft anymore.

I have boarded 737's of BA, BY, XLA and found the forward left hand bulkhead still in place, I think on some planes it looks smart as it acts as a vestibule keeping the cabin clear of the elements while boarding takes place. Whether practical in an emergency is debatable but they certainly are still allowed on UK registered aircraft.

25 Trekster
: Smae with the 735 i think it was i flew back up to manchester, i was in teh b/h positon in the window seat, i looked over and there were was a bulkhea

26 Philb
: Until withdrawal, at least one easyJet 737, G-EZYA, had a front left hand bulkhead in place. Last flew on it LPL-GVA in 1999 but many times before. T

27 Philb
: The day before the accident was a slow day at Manchester. I was on holiday at the time and, the afternoon before, went down to the unofficial viewing

28 Philb
: Going back to this point, I've just read the AAIB report's precis regarding the primary cause. To quote: "As the aircraft turned off, a wind of 7 kno